x
Breaking News
More () »

Central Ohio dentists see surge in dental emergencies

Dr. Sharon Parsons says stress from the COVID-19 pandemic may be a contributing factor to the surge.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Dentists in central Ohio are seeing a record number of patients coming in for tooth repairs.

“I saw people come in with a tooth that had never had a filling. Never,” said Dr. Sharon Parsons. “A perfect tooth totally split up the middle and have to lose the tooth. And it was from the stress of the pandemic and clenching.”

Just last month Dr. Parsons celebrated 40 years of practicing dentistry. Never in her career has she seen anything like this.

People are coming in, she says, for emergency visits due to broken or cracked teeth.

Over the last year this trend has been occurring – ever since her office at Dental Associates Bexley re-opened in May 2020.

“We started seeing all these people coming in with broken teeth,” she said. “I mean people crack teeth on a regular basis just from clenching and grinding but it was just like this was on steroids.”

Whether it’s an emergency or a routine visit, there’s one change due to the pandemic that patients will notice when they visit the dentist. Many dentists require patients to use a specific mouth rinse before the cleaning begins.

“There was just a study that just came out Ohio State was one of the universities that participated in it,” Dr. Parsons said about the rinse. “[It] has been shown to have the viral load decreased by 70% for up to 45 minutes. Just by doing that rinse.”

Before You Leave, Check This Out